Justine, Or, The Vicious Circle

Ju stin e , ihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONMLKJIHGFEDCBA Or, The Vicious Circle NANCY K. MILLER I d o n ’t k n o w w h e th e r w e m u st b u rn S ad e; I d o k n o w th a t it is d iffic u lt to a p p ro a c h h is w o rk w ith o u t g e ttin g b u rn e d : an y lite ra ry an aly sis ru n s th e risk o f b e tra y in g S ad ian ecriture, o f n e u tra liz in g w h a t is m e a n t to b e v io la tio n , o f b rid g in g th e g ap w h e re th e re is m e a n t to b e rupture. T h e d iffic u lty , o f c o u rse , lies in th e c o in c i­ d e n c e o f sex a n d te x t: in e v ita b ly tu rn e d o n o r tu rn e d o ff, a n a ly sts, in th e m a in , te n d to tre a t o n e problematique a t th e e x p e n se o f th e o th e r.1 A w a re o f th e d a n g e r, a n d w ith o u t seek in g to p u t o u t th e fire , I w o u ld lik e to p ro p o se a re a d in g o f o n e o f S a d e ’s n o v els, c o n fro n tin g sim u lta n e o u sly se x u a lity a n d te x tu a lity . I h av e c h o se n Justine, ou les malheurs de lavertu2 n e ith e r th e o rig in a l n o r th e u ltim a te v e rsio n , b u t th e se c o n d v a ria n t w h ic h h as p ro v o k e d b o th e x tre m e d ista ste : “ C ’est u n e so rte d e c o n te p h ilo so p h iq u e d a n s le q u e l 1’h e ro in e e st c a ric a tu re e fra n c h e m e n t, e t fra n c h e m e n t in v ra ise m b la b le ;” 3 “ S ad e a e c rit la sa p lu s m au v aise o e u v re , la seu le v u lg a ire ;” 4 a n d b o u n d le ss a d m ira tio n : “ L ’o e u v re d e S ad e san s d o u te la p lu s c o m p le te e t la p lu s p a rfa ite , p a rc e q u ’en a lla n t ju sq u ’au b o u t d e sa c o n v ic tio n e t d e so n g en ie, le p h ilo so p h e -p o e te y re ste m a itre d e so n im a g in a tio n , d e so n c o e u r, m ais d ’a b o rd d e so n a rt.” 5 T h is p o la riz e d re a c tio n (a p...